Immortal
by PhantomAlchemist
Summary: (oneshot) Not all murderers can be captured, and not all heroes are immortal. (Not a Hughes fic. I’ve seen too many of those floating around as it is.)


Title: Immortal

Rated: PG just because all my stories are

Pairings: None I think

Summary: Not all murderers can be captured, and not all heroes are immortal. (Not a Hughes fic. I've seen too many of those floating around as it is.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters. If I did, Ed would be mine, and there wouldn't be a single second where it didn't show him.

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Edward Elric walked into the mess hall groggily. He didn't get a very good sleep. He sat down next to Hughes, pushed his tray aside, and his head fell on the table. He didn't notice the mood Hughes was in.

"Something wrong, Ed?" Hughes asked.

Edward's answer was muffled against the table, but Hughes took it as a no. Ed turned his head to look at the man. Their were bags under his eyes, and it looked like he hadn't slept well either. Ed was too tired to ask if something was wrong though.

"Alicia's sick," Hughes said as though reading Ed's mind. "She has a terrible cough and can't even get out of bed. Her fever is so high too. My poor baby!" Hughes face was soon covered in salty tears.

Ed was about to comment when Alphonse walked up to them.

"Hey, Ed," Al said. "I see you finally decided to wake up." Ed groaned, still unable to talk. If he could have, Al would have given Ed a worried smile. "Did you hear what's been going on around Central, the south, and the east?" Ed looked up at Al, waiting for him to continue. Hughes listened with interest as well. "There's been some strange sickness spreading around fast. The doctors have no clue what it is, and it only seems to be affecting children."

"Are there any symptoms? Has anyone died from it?" Hughes asked worridly as he thought about his precious daughter lying sick in bed.

"Every case has had the same symptoms," Al said. "A bad cough, fatigue, loss of appetite, fever, dizziness, and fainting. I think that's all. Several children have already died. They can't seem to find a cure fast enough."

Hughes started crying once more.

"What's wrong with him?" Al asked Ed.

Ed just barely lifted his head off the table. "His daughter's sick in bed with a cough and fever. He's just overreacting." His head fell back to the table.

"I don't know," Al said. "What if?" He stopped at Hughes' tears and looked at Ed. 'Everyone always looks at Brother like an adult, but he is only a child like me,' Al thought. 'I hope he doesn't forget that.'

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By late afternoon, it seemed everyone in the military had learned about the epidemic which had now reached the north.

Alphonse and even Colonel Mustang were at the Hughes' residence to hear the news on Alicia, but the doctor had refused Ed coming in as he suspected Alicia had the virus. Ed sat in the backyard as he waited for the news. He had been pacing but had felt slightly dizzy and had to sit down.

After what seemed like forever, Alphonse came out to the backyard. Mustang was standing by the door. Ed stood up and a swirl of colors ran in front of his eyes. He blinked a few times until his vision became clear again.

Though you couldn't tell just by looking at him, one could tell the sadness that would've been on Al's face had he been human. Ed dreaded the worst as Al stopped in front of him.

"Well?" Ed asked worridly.

"They're taking her to the hospital now," Al said. Ed's bangs fell over his eyes as he hung his head. Silent tears rolled down his face. It was a moment even Mustang wouldn't make fun of. The fast acting virus had gotten its grip on Alicia.

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They didn't see Hughes for the rest of the day as he was at the hospital. Ed wanted to see Alicia and comfort her, but the doctors refused his entry. He had tried everything he could think of, but nothing worked. He didn't understand why, until, finally, he realized he was only a child, and they were worried for his safety.

'They don't need to worry,' Ed thought. 'Edward Elric doesn't get sick.'

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The next day

It was already late afternoon, and there had been no sign of the eldest Elric. Maria Ross was getting worried when she couldn't find him. She saw the younger brother walking down the hall to the mess hall and stopped him.

"Have you seen Edward around?" she asked Al.

"The last I saw him was this morning. He was still asleep."

"Surely he wouldn't be asleep this time of day."

"He didn't sleep well last night. I guess he was worried about Alicia."

Ross started walking toward Edward's room, Al close behind. Al opened the door for her, and she stepped into the cool darkness of the room. At first, it seemed the room was empty, but upon closer inspection, a figure could be seen in the bed. She walked carefully over to the bed. Ed was hardly recognizable. His face was extremely pale, his breathing shallow, and he just looked plain weak. She gasped at the realization of what was wrong and turned to Al.

"Get Colonel Mustang," she ordered the youngest Elric. It felt strange giving an order to an Elric, but she couldn't leave Ed in the state he was in. Al read the worried expression on her face as his greatest fear was realized. He hurriedly left the room and headed in the direction of Mustang's office.

The noise and commotion level in the room quickly rose. Ross placed her hand on Ed's forehead to get his temperature. Ed started coughing violently, but it didn't last long. Tears were in Armstrong's eyes, Bloch looked extremely worried, but suprisingly, Mustang seemed the most worried.

"He does seem to have a pretty high fever," Ross said to the waiting crowd.

"What can we do?" Bloch asked.

"Wait for the doctor," Mustang said.

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Only once, Ed had opened his eyes long enough to see he was in a hospital room. It had stirred a lot of commotion when he had woken, but he had used the last of his strength just to open his eyes. He thought over everything that had happened in his sixteen years of life. An image of Al flashed through his mind. He thought about the promise he had made to restore Al to his body and how he would never fulfill that promise.

"Al," Ed said in a hardly audible voice. "I'm…sorry."

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Mustang was the only person in the white hospital room as the day came to a close. He stared down at the helpless figure that was Ed. He had never seen Ed so vulnerable before and knew the image of Ed in that hospital bed would always stay with him. Many people knew of the things the Elric's had done, and it didn't seem likely that anything could stop them, but now Mustang realized, as he looked at the helpless figure of Ed, that no one, no matter how strong, was immortal.

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I hope you liked it. If you didn't, oh well, I tried my best. It was my attempt at a oneshot. Anyone who has read Is Perfect Really Perfect, I've been doing some work on it, so keep an eye out for changing chapters. I'm just adding more detail. Review plz. Oh, Ed and Alicia did die by the way.


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